John Pierpont
Rev. John Pierpont (April 6, 1785 - August 27, 1866) was an American poet. Life Overview Pierpoint was born at Litchfield, Connecticut. He worked as a lawyer, then a merchant, and lastly a Unitarian minister. His chief poem is The Airs of Palestine.John William Cousin, "Pierpoint, John," A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: Dent / New York: Dutton, 1910, 302. Wikisource, Web, Feb. 18, 2018. Youth and education Born in 1785 in Litchfield, Connecticut, Pierpont had careers as a tutor, attorney, merchant, and minister. In 1816 he began his religious work as a theology student, initially in Baltimore and then at Harvard, Career After graduating, Pierpont accepted an appointment as pastor at the Hollis Street Church in Boston (1819-1845). During his tenure, Pierpont was instrumental in establishing Boston's English Classical School in 1821, and gained national recognition as an educator. He published 2 of the better-known early school readers in the United States, The American First Class Book (1823) and The National Reader (1827). However, Pierpont's latter years at the Hollis Street Church were characterized by controversy. His social activism for temperance and abolition angered some parishioners, and after a long public battle, he resigned in 1845. After his resignation, Pierpont served as pastor of a Unitarian church in Troy, New York (1845-1849), and then led the First Parish Church (Unitarian) in Medford, Massachusetts (1849-1856). He ran for Massachusetts governor during the 1840s as a Liberty Party candidate, and in 1850 as a Free Soil Party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. After 2 weeks' service as a 76-year-old military chaplain with the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, Pierpont was given an appointment in the Treasury Department in Washington, which he held from 1861 until his death. Family Contrary to some inaccurate histories and attributions, John Pierpont was not the author of the Christmas song “Jingle Bells”; its author was his son, James Lord Pierpont (1822-1893), who (ironically) served in the First Georgia Cavalry and wrote patriotic hymns for the Confederacy. John Pierpont was also the maternal grandfather of financier J. Pierpont Morgan. For detailed genealogical information, see 20>16232 in "PIERPONT (PIERREPONTE, PIERPOINT, etc.) GENEALOGIES, With Focus on the New England Pier(re)ponts of America." Writing Pierpont gained a literary reputation with his book Airs of Palestine: A poem (1816), re-published in an anthology by the same name in 1840. He also published moral literature, such as Cold Water Melodies and Washington Songster (comp. 1842). In addition, he is probably the anonymous "gentleman" who co-authored The Drunkard; or, The fallen saved (1844), attributed to W.H. Smith, an actor and stage manager at Moses Kimball's Boston Museum (theatre). The Drunkard quickly earned a place with the most popular temperance plays in America. Pierpont's many published sermons include, among others, The Burning of the Ephesian Letters (1833), Jesus Christ Not a Literal Sacrifice (1834), New Heavens and a New Earth (1837), Moral Rule of Political Action (1839), National Humiliation (1840), and A Discourse on the Covenant with Judas (1842). With publication of Phrenology and the Scriptures (1850), Pierpont became known not only as a reform lecturer, but also as an expert on phrenology and spiritualism. Pierpont was an important influence on reform-minded antebellum poets. Along with John Greenleaf Whittier’s verse, Pierpont’s poems were frequently recited at public antislavery meetings. Oliver Johnson, a leading antislavery publisher and Garrison associate, published Pierpont’s Anti-Slavery Poems in 1843. The collection contains poems that had appeared mostly in the poetry columns of The Liberator and The National Anti-Slavery Standard. Pierpont’s writings were also anthologized widely in antislavery poetry collections, such as William Allen’s Autographs of Freedom (1853). John Pierpont did not write the song "Jingle Bells" as erroneously claimed by Robert Fulghum in his collection of essays It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It (1989). "Jingle Bells" was composed by his son James Lord Pierpont, who lived in Savannah, Georgia, and who was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, composing songs for the Confederate States of America, including "Our Battle Flag", "Strike for the South", and "We Conquer or Die". He died at Medford, Massachusetts in 1866. Publications Poetry *''The Portrait: A poem delivered before the Washington Benevolent Society, of Newburyport, on the evening of October 27, 1812. Boston: Bradford & Read, 1812. *Airs of Palestine: A poem. Boston: Wells & Lilly, 1817. *''Ode. Boston: 1839. *''Airs of Palestine, and other poems. Boston: James Munroe, 1840; London: J. Green, 1840. *''Cold Water Melodies, and Washington songster. Boston: T. Abbott, 1842. *''The Anti-Slavery Poems of John Pierpont. Boston: Oliver Johnson, 1843. **Upper Saddle River, NJ: LIterature House, 1970. *The Pilgrims of Plymouth: A poem delivered before the New England Society in the City of New York at their semi-centennial anniversary, December 22, 1855. Boston: Crosby, Nichols, 1856. Prose *''The Burning of the Ephesian Letters: A sermon preached in Hollis Street Church, Sunday, 8th Dec. 1833. Boston: Ford & Damrell, 1834. *''A Discourse on the Convenant with Judas. Boston: C.C. Little & J. Brown, 1842. *''A discourse occasioned by the death of William Ellery Channing. Boston: Oliver Johnson, 1842. *''Phrenology and the Scriptures''. New York: Fowlers & Wells, 1850. Juvenile *''The American First Class Book, or, Exercises in reading and recitation. Boston: T.P. & J.S. Fowle, 1823. *''The Young Reader: To go with the spelling-book. New York: George F. Cooledge, 1835. *''The Little Learner; or, Rudiments of reading''. New York: George F. Cooledge, 1839; Boston: David H. Williams, 1839. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:John Pierpont, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 22, 2013. See also * List of U.S. poets References * Obituary by John Neal, Atlantic Monthly 18 (1866) 649-665; * Dictionary of American Biography 14: 586-587; * John T. Winterich, "Savonarola of Hollis Street," Colophon 20 (1935) Notes External links ;Poems *The Tocsin, a broadsheet poem by John Pierpont, at the Antislavery Literature Project * Selected Poetry of John Pierpont (1785-1866) (3 poems) at Representative Poetry Online. * Antislavery poems * John PIerpont at PoemHunter. ;Books *''The Anti-slavery poems of John Pierpont'' By John Pierpont. Cornell University Library Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection. {Reprinted by} Cornell University Library Digital Collections *''The Antislavery Poems of John Pierpont, at the Antislavery Literature Project *John Pierpont works at Cornell University Library, Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection. ;About *John Pierpont (1785-1866) at Heralds of a Liberal Faith. *John Pierpont at Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry. *Critical and Biographical Notice at ''Specimens of American Poetry. * Category:American poets Category:1785 births Category:1860 deaths Category:Harvard University alumni Category:People from Boston, Massachusetts Category:19th century in Boston, Massachusetts Category:Liberty Party (United States, 1840) politicians Category:Massachusetts Free Soilers Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets